Woot! 43 reviews! I'd first like to thank the following awesome guys and gals who really uplifted me during this frustrating and challenging second week of school:Kurama'sfoxykitsune,goblin monkey, Nina-del-rio, fran, lacatamar, rainydyz07, unknownspecies, Huggles4All, Things-One-and-Two, Kitty Weasley KW, Sing-my-heart-out, katie, debbie, Ron Lover 2005, anonymous r/hr shipper, Sailor Piglet, Azu Luna, CassieLupin, AshEllie, FairyKisses, Eowyn Organa, xPussyWillowKittenx, Warlock, nycegurl, aishteru, milky way bar, CG, TrueBluePotterFan, gryffinquill94, Tria Marie Val, Endless Potential, Elise, the-insufferable-know-it-all, SafetyXPins, Darkmoonfang, Lumos2000, doublelily, dancerrdw, rgluvr13, RandomSmirf13, Ronsreallove, ThePhantomIt14, Lucy, EponineWeasley, and last, but certainly not least, quidditchgirl13. I love you fabulous people to pieces!
Happy early birthday to me! I'm turning the big 15 on Wednesday, so...I dunno..birthday wishes would be appreciated? Eeeek, I sound pathetic..and shameless! And I do apologize for that. But you know what I mean!
As I have mentioned before, I'm nearing the end of this fiction. Around 3 to 5 more chapters to go (I increased the number), approximately, depending on many factors. Anyway, so that's anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks to go, so I'm already starting to think of my next story idea. I have ZILLIONS of plot bunnies, and the following are a few of my favorite and the ones which I think are most do-able. Your opinion(s) would be valued greatly!
- A collection of fluffy one-shots focusing on various pairings (Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, Lily and James) entitled "Redhead Love" or something along those lines.
- Another "fluffy-in-total-denial-dancing-around-feelings" Ron / Hermione romance, only this time it'll be Post-Hogwarts- either Ron and Hermione are training to be Aurors or they're flat mates. But both of those ideas are SO overdone, so I'm no longer too crazy about this...however, if I could somehow do a clever twist on it, such as a parody...which brings me to my next and second-to-last idea...
- A parody of some sorts, parodying (for lack of a better word!) either Ron / Hermione or Draco / Hermione romances. Now this could be quite fun! Bwahaha! I have so many ideas for this one... and, finally...
- A humorous romance / drama featuring..the journals of the professors at Hogwarts! This one would also be VERY amusing to write. Each chapter would be a witty excerpt from the journal of one of the professors (the first chapter, which I have quite a good start on, would be entitled "The Musings of Minerva."). It would take place in Harry's fourth year and include (obviously!) lots of humor, romance, drama, etc...right now, I'm leaning towards this one, but...
I need to know your honest opinions! I don't want to write something that you fabulous reviewers will not enjoy! So give me suggestions or comment on the ones I have mentioned! I can't make any promises, but I will try to make my next story one that you will support!
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my extremely loyal and wonderful reviewer, suckr4romance, who unfortunately was a victim of Hurricane Katrina and was forced to abandon her home and live elsewhere for a while. She doesn't know what she'll encounter when she finally returne to her house in Louisiana and is going through a tough time. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! keep her and all the other victims of that terrible catastrophe in your prayers and donate money to an excellent organization such as the Red Cross!
At the exact time that my hero, Harry, was about to open his mouth to hopefully say something along the lines of, "Ron, can I speak with you for a moment?" in a rather tight voice, I made a split-second decision.
"Er, that sounds great Ron, because then there'll be four people in the group!" I chirped. "Perfect amount for a booth at the Three Broomsticks!"
"Four?" He furrowed his red brow. "That means that..."
"Yes, I'm not going," I let out a laugh. "Go on without me. I just remembered that I'm extremely behind on my school work. I'll spend the day in the library. Don't worry a single bit about me!" Ha. I'd stayed up until 1 o'clock nearly every night to finish all my essays after detention, and was completely caught-up. The truth was, there was NO way in Godric that I was going to stomach EIGHT hours of constant Cassandra / Ron interactions if I could help it. I'd pray feverishly that Ginny would do her duty and keep those two apart in my absence, because, quite frankly, if I went along, by the end of the day I'd be vomiting and heart-broken. It would be best to avoid it.
If Ron actually bought that, he would have to be even dafter that I had originally believed.
"If you say so," he said, his face falling. My own face fell too. He REALLY didn't have a clue whatsoever. Hmmph. "But it won't be the same without you."
Duh. We were supposed to be going on a DATE- I would hope that it wouldn't be the same without me.
"Bye, guys! See you at dinner!" I made to dash to the dormitory when Ginny grabbed my arm.
"Do you really think this is a smart idea, 'Mione, leaving those two without a chaperone?"
"Ron is a big boy," I said in a high voice. "He is quite capable of behaving himself. And I assumed that YOU could keep an eye on them."
"B-but Harry and I wanted to sneak off for some 'alone time,'" Ginny whispered.
"Well, you'll have to change your plans. Please, Gin, it'll be for you own good. You're much too young to get pregnant."
Ginny blushed a violent red.
"Harry and I wouldn't go THAT far," she hissed. "For the love of Godric, do you think I'm some sort of scarlet woman?"
The corners of my mouth twitched, despite my mood.
"No, not really, Ginny. But you certainly do need to watch yourself. I know how difficult it can be..."
"All right, all right I get the idea. I will my very best NOT to do anything greater than a PG-13 rating with Harry AND to keep Cassandra from jumping Ron," she vowed. "Happy?"
"No, but it'll do. Have a lovely day in the only all-Wizarding village in all of Britain!" I said loudly as I shooed them out the portrait hole and then collapsed on the couch in misery.
"Er, are you all right?" A timid voice asked me. I grouchily raised my eyes to see a pretty girl of about twelve years with beautiful ash blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"Hello, Ashley," I sighed, mustering a smile for the petite second-year. "I'm fine."
"No, you are NOT," she insisted.
"Yes I AM," I said crossly, massaging my forehead in frustration.
"C'mon, Hermione, you can tell me what's wrong."
"It's nothing. Girl problems."
"I'm a girl," Ashley said stubbornly. "You can tell ME!"
"Older girl problems, Ashley." I emphasized the word "older."
"Oh, you mean like menstruation? Mum got me a book about the birds and the bees AGES ago- I know everything! I can help you!"
Ashley Carson was WAY too clever for her own good. Still, I felt a sisterly kind of affection towards the girl- we talked on the occasion, I helped her with particularly tricky assignments, and I comforted her in the first year after a particularly nasty Slytherin boy made fun of her extremely cute pigtails. We were friends of a sort, I reckon you could say, - even though there was a 6-year age difference between us.
"No, no, it's not that...it has to do with my boyfriend."
"Is Ron being incredibly daft again?"
Merlin, this gal should've seriously been pushed up a year.
"Yes, unfortunately," I groaned. "And no offense meant to you at all, but I REALLY don't want to talk about it."
"Fine, fine," she pouted. The her young face brightened. "Then you can help me with my Transfiguration assignment, right?"
I resigned myself to spending the morning in the Common Room, helping the wee little Gryffindors with their essays. Hey, I wasn't complaining. At least it kept my mind off of particular...other things.
After eating a meager amount of lunch (I scarcely had an appetite) and finishing an extra-credit essay for Charms, it was around 3 o'clock. I had a good 45 minutes before students would start trickling back in from their day out, so I decided to go to- where else?- but the library.
"Draco!" I gasped with surprise. "What are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be at Hogsmeade?"
"I could ask you the same question," Draco said grumpily. "And please keep your voice down. I don't want to advertise the fact that I'm sitting at a table in the Hogwarts library, with Hermione Granger, when I could be frittering my money away at that ridiculous candy shop." He dragged me by the arm into the most secluded corner in the whole library- one that was well-known as to have hidden many a snogging couple from the watchful eyes of Madame Pince.
"Just because my boyfriend is being idiotic," I snapped, "doesn't mean that you're entitled to KISS me."
"You flatter yourself WAY too much, Hermione." Draco put a companionable arm around my shoulders. "Yes, you may look and feel like dragon dung at the moment, but I DO NOT plan on snogging those luscious lips of your in order to cheer you up. Even though you are a brilliant kisser. Frankly, I would MUCH rather shag you- you need a good shag DESPERATELY."
Suddenly, all of the color drained from his face, as had happened the previous night when he was summoned by Voldemort.
"Draco!" I said urgently. "What's wrong?" I gulped when he just mouthed wordlessly, and I quickly whipped out my wand. Did Voldemort himself somehow sneak into Hogwarts or something? For rarely did one see the usually cocky-and-self-confident 17-year so frightened.
"B-b-behind you, Hermione," he stuttered, pointing a shaky finger over my right shoulder.
"Yes, I've gathered that whatever is behind me is invoking fear in you," I pointed out. "Now why don't you just tell..." But, alas, I never got the chance to finish my sentence, for the mystery person was now standing in FRONT of me. And, Merlin, by the absolutely FURIOUS expression across his extremely enraged face, I concluded that he was rather angry at Draco...and I...
In the most eloquent words ever known to mankind, I said...
"Dammnit! Ron!"
"Dammnit is right, Hermione," my-soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend sneered.
"Why are you back so early?" I asked lamely. "And where's everyone else?"
"I left the other three early so I could come back and see how YOU were doing," he growled. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Oh, no, no, no, Weasley," Draco laughed. "You really think I would associate with the likes of HER by my own free choice? We were just working on an Ancient Runes project."
"Hermione doesn't take Ancient Runes this year," Ron scowled. "I should know- I used to be her boyfriend."
I winced at his usage of the word "used to be."
"Honestly, Weasley , NOTHING was happening. I can assure you of that. I would never dream of moving in on YOUR girlfriend."
"Oh? Nothing was happening? Should I really believe that, especially since YOUR arm is around HER shoulders?"
Ooops. Draco hurriedly removed his muscular arm.
"And furthermore, you two were discussing KISSING and shagging. And YOU..." he pointed to Draco... "said that HERMIONE is a brilliant KISSER! It doesn't take a GENIUS to figure out that HERMIONE has been CHEATING on ME behind MY BACK!"
I was quite impressed that Ron only had sworn ONE TIME in the past three minutes, but it also depressed me greatly. Did I mean that little to him?
"Ron..." I began, close to tears. "You HAVE to have faith in me. Draco and I are only friends- nothing more and nothing less. We both happened to be working on essays in the library when we ran into each other..."
"FRIENDS?" Ron spat. "You are FRIENDS with this low-lying piece of scum?"
"Yes, I am," I said in a quivery voice, holding my head high.
His cobalt blue eyes were alight with fury.
"Funny, I recollected you swearing UP AND DOWN that you weren't mates with Malfoy and would NEVER EVER do so quite a few times in the past two weeks," Ron sneered. "So you expect me to believe ANY word that comes out of your mouth? You've lied to me SO many times, Hermione. Cassandra was right..."
"Cassandra? Just what did Cassandra say?" I growled.
"She hinted that you were cheating on me!" The redhead cried. "And then I find out that it was with bloody Draco Malfoy, no less! At least if you were going to be unfaithful to me, go after some bloke that doesn't want you, your two best mates, and everyone on the side of Light dead!"
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, Ronald," I snapped, nodding my head towards the blond Slytherin who trying to sneak out of the corner unnoticed. "Draco isn't..."
"I don't bloody CARE what Draco isn't! What I care about is that behind my back, you snogged and did Merlin-knows-what-else with this bas...! You BETRAYED ME!"
"I didn't do ANYTHING with him," I said quietly. "And if you don't think I'm being truthful..."
"Hell, I KNOW you're not being truthful," Ron snorted, violently shaking me. "I heard Malfoy with my own two ears! He thinks you're a brilliant kisser!"
"Well, Cassandra says the same of you!" I retorted, removing myself from his tight grasp. "And you don't see ME going around falsely accusing YOU of having a romantic relationship with Cassandra!"
His accusing eyes narrowed.
"So THAT'S what this is all about," he said slowly. "Cassandra. You thought you'd be able to make me insanely jealous by kissing this git when I wasn't looking. Well, you've succeeded- I AM insanely jealous. But also insanely beside myself with anger. We're over, Hermione. For GOOD! If you can't respect that fact that I can have other female acquaintances, then I certainly want OUT of this relationship." And with those final ever-so-kind words, Ronald Weasley stepped out of the secluded corner- and my life.
"Sucks to be you," Draco said in his attempt at sympathetically.
"Yes, it certainly sucks to be me." I burst into gut-wrenching sobs.
"Ron and Cassandra. Ron and Cassandra. You don't know how sick and tired I'm getting of hearing that phrase OVER and OVER again," I said through gritted teeth tears still filling my eyes as the terrible truth hit me with a hard blow, even after 21 days of enduring my ex-boyfriend (and ex-best mate) and that slag swapping spit 24 / 7.
"Tell me about it." Ginny rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It's bloody all he talks about these days."
Harry rubbed my shoulder.
"You know, Hermione, they'll have to break up eventually," he said in his version of a consoling manner.
"Fat lot of comfort that is," I snapped. "For in case you've forgotten, Ron ever-so gently told me that we were over for GOOD. " For good" usually translates to mean "FOREVER."
"At least you don't have to hear about every single detail of each of their snogging sessions," Harry groaned. "Let me tell you, the way he talks, Cassandra must be nearly a PROFESSIONAL at it!"
"You insensitive wart," Ginny admonished him, hitting him over the head with her Transfiguration book as I fled to the safe haven of my dormitory, full-fledged tears streaming down my cheeks. Er, let me re-phrase myself there. I was planning on fleeing to the safe haven of my dormitory, but quickly changed my mind when I heard the most some rather suspicious moaning and groaning sounds that insinuated something of a rather intimate manner was occurring in the room. And I had quite the keen suspicion of just who the witch and wizard were who were engaging in such inappropriate acts...